Black-Out?!?!

I had my whole day planned for college football yesterday - I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Gamecocks beat Furman, and I also appreciated Steve Spurrier's deprecating remarks.  I watched in awe as the Georgia Bulldogs ripped the Arkansas Razorbacks - I thought the Hawgs were much better.  Just before the end of the Georgia game, I switched over to ESPN2 to see the Florida Gators play the Missouri Tigers for their Homecoming game.  All day long I had remembered Gator Homecomings - the parade on University Avenue, which I saw in person for 33 years in a row, with all the marching bands from high schools all over the state and all the University bands; Gator Growl, the "biggest out door pep rally" in the country - and all the celebrities that guest-hosted; and Game Day itself.  When I was a kid, we played other conference members and the Homecoming game was always hard-fought, and wins were celebrated as real wins.   While I was in college and for several years after, we played non-competitive teams that weren't in our class and pretty much had an assured win.  Once we got Steve Spurrier (back home) as the Gator head coach, we started playing SEC opponents and again our victories could be celebrated.
   I was shocked and outraged that with over 700 channels on my satellite TV, the only one which was showing the Florida-Mizzou game, ESPN2, was blacked-out in Colorado.  I was so ready for the game - I had all of my snacks on the coffee table, and a full 20-ounce bottle of cold Diet Coke at my elbow.  And NO game to watch.  I admit it.  I was totally ticked off.  I closed the window curtains,  made certain that my kits were inside with me, locked the doors, and went to bed.  I did read for a couple of hours - Archaeology magazine, since it was International Archaeology Day - but at 7 p.m., I turned off the light and I went to sleep. (My thoughts were, "So there!" to all the advertisers and the television executives who had decided I couldn't watch a game on TV that was taking place two time zones and 1,751 miles away.)  Childish, I know.
  I would have been cheering for both teams, actually.  The Gators were my team growing up, and where I went to college.  Missouri is where several friends have graduated, and my cousin Sarah is a big fan of theirs, also.  And I just happen to like the Tigers - they joined the SEC recently, and this is only their second football season.  But those Mizzou Tigers know how to hunt, pounce and kill their prey.  When I got up this morning, the first thing I did was check the college scores.  It might have been the Florida Gators Homecoming game, but the Tigers showed they know how to hunt and kill a Gator.  It was an  **ouch** game - the final score was 42 to 13.  I think the Tigers wrapped the team up in orange and blue ribbons and gave them back to the fans, served on toast.  Kinda glad I didn't watch the game, now.  I probably would have been having conniption fits throughout.....

Gamecocks Football; Points Offthebench

A beautiful sunrise here in Boulder this morning - the sun painted the snow on the mountain peaks in shades of pink and purple - it was magnificent.   Last night was CU's Homecoming game, with kick-off at 6 p.m.  My kits were a little cranky because they wanted to go out and prowl, but I kept them inside until this morning.  The apartment is a block and a half away from the CU football stadium, and the building owner charges for people to park in the unoccupied spaces - therefore, during home games, we have a lot of traffic and strangers in and around the building, and I'd rather be safe than sorry - especially with Halloween just a few days away.
  But the poor Buffs - I was watching the South Carolina Gamecocks play at Missouri on TV, but could hear the crowd in the stadium.  The Buffs had a 3 and 3 record going into the game - the best record they've had in many years - but they were playing Arizona.  I could hear the crowd roaring and lots of noise through half-time,but after the third quarter kick-off, the stadium got more and  more quiet.  At halftime, Arizona was up by only 7 points  (20 to 27), but the Buffs were not able to score again. The final score was 44 to 20. Ouch.
  In the meantime, I was watching a heck of a game on the telly.  Conner Shaw, the Gamecocks starting quarterback, was injured last week.  He was cleared to play last night, but was favoring the sore leg.  So Dylan Thompson was the designated quarterback.  At the end of the third quarter, the Gamecocks were scoreless, while the Tigers had 17 points.  (Last week I rooted for Mizzou over my Gators, but I wanted "the ol' ball coach," Steve Spurrier, to win last night.)  Steve was seen speaking to Connor  just before the end of the third quarter, and Shaw came out onto the field at the beginning of the fourth.  At the end of 15 minutes, the score was tied at 17.  At the end of the first Overtime, the score was tied at 24.  In the second Overtime period, the Gamecocks could only get a field goal on the scoreboard.  The Tigers sputtered toward the goal line, and on their last play, had to make a field goal to tie, and go into a third Overtime period.  The poor young man who kicked the ball for the Tigers hit the lacings, and the ball bounced off the outside of the goalpost upright.  SC won, 27 to 24.  And it spoiled an unbeaten season for Mizzou.
  The Gators didn't play yesterday, but I also saw the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and the Ohio State Buckeyes win their games.  Overall, it was a good football Saturday.
   Today, the Denver Broncos play the Washington Redskins at Mile High Stadium - Mike Shanahan is back in the town that fired him.  I like Mike.  I like RGIII.  I like John Fox.  I like Peyton and his receiving corps.  I have an awful feeling that I'll be rooting for both teams today...
******
  Yesterday, one of the horses exercising for the Breeders Cup Championship races suffered a condylar fracture of his right fore fetlock.  Points Offthebench was galloping under jockey Mike Smith, when the colt took a misstep and went down.  Mike Smith fell easily and was unhurt.  But the big grandson of Alydar was deemed to have an irreparable break, and was euthanized.  Points Offthebench was scheduled to run in the Breeders Cup Sprint on 2 November.

Marcus Lattimore, # 21, Gamecock

Marcus Lattimore, injured in yesterday's game against Tennessee.

Tomorrow is his 21st birthday...

 

Jesse Palmer

Last night I was delighted to be able to watch the first of the collegiate season's football games.  I was especially delighted because one of the teams playing was the South Carolina Gamecocks.  The Gamecocks are coached by Steve Spurrier.  I like Steve.   -  First, a little bit of background:  my family moved to Gainesville in July of 1961, and my Dad, retired from the US Navy, started classes at UF to become a primary school teacher on the GI Bill.  That September, when Dad became a Gator, I was starting Kindergarten.  In school, I was a Lake Forest Scout, a Westwood Whirlwind, and an Eastside Ram - but I was always a Gator, too.  Dad took us to UF football games, to Gator Growl, to the UF Homecoming Parade, UF baseball games and UF wrestling meets...  I grew up respecting Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles, but I was always a Gator.  -  Steve Spurrier is a polarizing individual - you either love him, or you love to hate him.  He, himself, loves enemies.  I happen to like his style and his character.
  I was watching the ESPN pre-game coverage, and as I looked at Jesse Palmer, the middle commentator, I was not happy.  This young man (aged 33) is fairly handsome, he is pretty well-spoken (though not eloquent, and he certainly needs a lot more experience to equal Chris Collingsworth), and he was a quarterback at UF.  He was a Gator; he played for Steve Spurrier. He played in the NFL, he played in the CFL.  Ah, what counted against him in my memory was that he was the center of attention on The Bachelor, one of those God-awful so-called "reality" shows, which is anything but reality-based....  And I thought I remembered a few disparaging remarks about Spurrier, coming from the lips of Palmer, once he had graduated.  My memories of the remarks, however, had made me think at the time "sour grapes."
   In any event, there was the inevitable hype about could the Vanderbilt Commodores defeat a Top Ten-rated team at home in the season opener.  Vandy had installed a new artificial turf surface - one of those that have loose rubber pellets in the grass; they had a new, huge Trinitron viewing system in the stadium; and their second year head coach was really playing them up as the team to beat.
   The game was not a very prettily-played game.  There were goofs, there were blatant errors and misjudgements, and there were injuries.  But I got upset with Jesse Palmer, who seemed to be on a tear to make Steve Spurrier into a caricature of himself.  Yes, a lot of folks refer to Steve as "the Ol' Ball Coach," and, yes, as a coach, Spurrier wants his team to win.  What Head Coach would not want his team to win?  Jesse Palmer started a refrain that ran from the second quarter to the end of the game about how the ol' ball coach would do anything - anything - to win.  He got under my skin.  I still think it's a case of sour grapes:

Spurrier finished his three-year, thirty-one-game career as Florida's starting quarterback having completed 392 of 692 attempts, with 4,848 passing yards, thirty-seven TDs and 442 yards rushing.

   Palmer often alternated playing time with quarterback Doug Johnson, and later, with quarterback Rex Grossman. Memorably, he connected with Bo Carroll on a 75-yard touchdown pass play, and rushed for four touchdowns against the Kentucky Wildcats in 2000. He finished his four-year college career with 3,755 passing yards.
   Palmer still can't touch Spurrier!